03 January 2017

Scattershots – 3jan17 (updated 4jan17)

George Rebane

Having strong or well-formed political beliefs doesn’t always mean that one is also willing or able to reason about them.

Now some keenly honed liberal minds around here think that we should consider the source and therefore ignore the evidence against Hillary. That’s like telling the DA he can’t prosecute because the police got the goods on the defendant from shady informant Vlad the Snitch. Only in America.

In the 3jan17 Union there’s a letter from a Mr Ron Lowe, another leftwinger who lights off on President-elect Trump. The man shows his union school education by citing the non-existent “60s Republican war playbook” that is the source of Trump’s “obvious inferiority complex”, “fear mongering”, and “openly flagrant nuclear war talk”. Now since none of this is happening during his current efforts to set up his administration, Mr Lowe must be getting such reports from one of the many fake news manufactories that have sprung up within the usual lamestream media outlets.

I’m happy to know that our neighbors on the Left will now have at least four enlightening years of the Trump administration during which they will know exactly how we felt and why we protested during the last eight years under the ministrations of Barack Hussein Obama whose domestic policies increased regulations, decreased freedoms, raised taxes, stifled the economy, grew corrupt government; and whose foreign policy can be summarized by ‘Protect Muslims, Ignore Christians, Blame Jews’.

We're told that former POTUS Obama will have to remain in DC to guard his legacy and provide much needed leadership to the Democrats. Apparently there will be no one else from the Left who is willing to spend much political capital to secure fPOTUS an acceptable place in history. So he'll just have to do the job himself and become the festering fly in the federal ointment and also his own monument around which today's over-wrought socialists can rally while they seek to preserve the swamp.

[4jan17 update] Read if you dare Victor Davis Hanson’s most recent report on the state of the Golden State. Abetted by the toxic coastal elites and as we witness daily, our local Left is doing all it can to expand their progressive septic tank to Nevada County. Here is a paragraph, suitable for family reading, that summarizes the details of Hanson’s piece -

Abstract idealism on behalf of the distant is a powerful psychological narcotic that allows caring progressives to dull the guilt they feel about their own privilege and riches. Nowhere is this paradox truer than in California, a dysfunctional natural paradise in which a group of coastal and governing magnificoes virtue-signal from the world’s most exclusive and beautiful enclaves. The state is currently experiencing another perfect storm of increased crime, decreased incarceration, still ongoing illegal immigration, and record poverty. All that is energized by a strapped middle class that is still fleeing the overregulated and overtaxed state, while the arriving poor take their places in hopes of generous entitlements, jobs servicing the elite, and government employment.

George, the VDH piece got me chuckling this morning for its unintentional comedy. At one point he writes

Feral California out here is a live-and-let-live place, a libertarian’s dream (or nightmare). The staggering costs for its illegality are made up by the shrinking few who nod as they always have and follow the law in all its now-scary manifestations.

The rich on the coast tune out. From her nest in Rancho Mirage, a desert oasis created by costly water transfers, outgoing senator Barbara Boxer rails about water transfers. When Jerry Brown leaves his governorship, he will not live in Bakersfield but probably in hip Grass Valley."

Snort! Snicker!

He's basically right, but I don't know if I've heard Grass Valley called hip since I moved here 25 years ago nor do I think Brown would be caught dead moving to GV.

I've been told the current Gov. Brown did visit The Willo with Linda Ronstadt years ago on a day where he visited some family property of the time, perhaps up around North San Juan.

Let's see. Wikileaks released e-mails from a private enterprise and private parties. Not covered under the espionage act. Now, if government files were hacked or government classified docs were taken off secure premises without permission and stored/maintained on....say....a private homebrewed server in the bathroom of a home, well, By Golly, that in and of itself is a violation of the Espionage Act.

Bill. DJ you say? We should throw an inauguration party and hire him. Can you see "GO TRUMP" nailed above the CD players? That would make his night. I bet we could pack the PV park, rain or shine. Tape the event and send it to Trump, Care of the W.H., just to let him know there is an island of sanity in Ca.
Think he would do it? or pulla never Trumper?

I played lots of gigs for Deukmejian ,Wilson and other Republicans State wide and locally I mean if you own a shoe store you don't only sell shoes to the people of your political persuasion I look forward to the opportunity

Paul, the Jerry Brown post was to Gregory. You said you would not converse with me anymore. That makes you a liar. You are a liar. You are a liar. You are a liar. You are a liar. You lied.

Do you agree with me that you are a liar?

Oh course you have said many times you don't smoke. Never doubted it, but lately one has to wonder. Maybe it's just some weird disease trapped in the old theater building Hmmm. But, can I trust a liar? Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Walt being a libertarian type of course I believe people should be able to smoke something if they want to The opposite to that view is you support a government that has police that can intrude your personal life to the point that they can incarcerate you for making that choice The next thing that will happen is government helicopters will fly over your backyard to see what you're growing Whoops they already do that do you actually believe smoking marijuana should be illegal and punishable as a crime ?

HEER we go.... It sure doesn't matter now, does it? Just more burdens on society that the taxpayer will be footing the bill for. What's the next drug on the list to legalize?
By your logic, people should be able to snort shoot or pop anything that floats their boat.
And that would be great just how?

Walt, a true libertarian would say government has no business telling people they can't shoot heroin and thus personal use of heroin is none of their business. There should be no laws about the use of heroin. But, ideology is one thing, pragmatiism is another.

PAUL, did you or did not say you would not talk to me in the future? Yes or no? Yes or no? If yes, does that make you a liar? Thankyou for agreeing with me that you are A LIAR. You are a liar. You lied! Yes or no, Paul? YES or NO? Answer me, you LIAR.

Hey, everybody lies at some time if they are human. Yes, Paul, I am fine. I just want to show you by example how idiotic it sounds when someone like you comes over and spends hundreds of hours saying, "He Lied! He lied, he lied" month in, month out.
A taste of your own medicine. So, you lied, I lied, your favorite school teacher lied a few times in his/her lives. But, but, but. No buts. Just periods. All people have lied. All people have been mistaken. All people. It's the big ones we need to watch out after. Sometimes we change our minds as new information comes in or we see things from another perspective. Shooting from the hip is one thing. Telling me I can keep my doctor and save $2,500/ a year on health insurance premiums knowing full well I won't is another.

Trump lied, Trump lied. You will be eating a lot of crow if Hillary ends up serving time.

1) Trump distrusts the Obama politicalized Intelligence appatratus. Probably for good reason. He is toying with the Dems. He will not show his hand under he is sitting behind the Oval Office.

2). Hacking government systems is one thing. Hacking the DNC is another. Separate issues. Totally different. Apples and oranges. The DNC, the Podesta e-mails and paid campaign staff private correspondence....well, it is up to private entities to provide their own security. Not the government's job.

3) Trump seeks to improve relations with Russia and lower the current temperature and resist the beating of the War drums that is being sounded louder and louder each hour. Trump is under enormous pressure from the Neocons and the Dems to escalate tensions between our two countries. Trump says no. He is keeping it calm while others are losing their heads. Pooh-poohing the Intel reports is buying him time (and our intelligence more time) until he sits down with them man to man.

4) The fact is a real expert will tell ya we will never know for sure who it was if a good hacker has been in our systems. Operative word is GOOD hacker. They leave no trace, no fingerprints. We can say that it is likely, or conclude it is a reasonable assumption, or say our research points to......but cannot say with 100% certainty it was Russian State sponsored hackers. Russia has been trying to hack our systems for years, along with 100's of likely suspects that have been successful. Over 1,000 attempts hit our systems daily, 7 days a week. False trails, false clues, dead end roads, intentional red herrings, false points of origins can and will be left behind, but a good hacker leaves no traceable verifiable trail behind.

For example, the FBI has said that Hillary's private unauthorized server (after investigating the damage her unlawful actions and carelessness might have caused the gov't) had a 99% chance of certainty that 5 different sources (foreign) got in her private server while she was Sec of State. The FBI or CIA would be fools to announce publicly who got in, where they went from her server into other State Department systems,, and what files they read. 99% certainty but cannot say definitely who..where, what....Why? Because only possible clues, but no fingerprints left behind.

5) The Russians are known for breaking into systems, laying low, and just reading stuff, not taking. Like installing a surveillance camera if you will. The Chinese are known for going into systems with a vacumn hose and sucking up everything including the kitchen sink...generally speaking. The N. Koreans are known for getting in to wreck havoc, etc.

6). Summary. Trump is resisting efforts to bash Russia. He knows full well nobody can say with 100% certainly it was the Kremlin. Could of been, might be...but absolutely for sure?
The DNC "hacks" were of private citizens (including Hillary at the time) and it is not the government's job or responsibility to provide or maintain internet security for them. Who would ever think that Podesda would fall for a freshman bonehead computer class phishing scam?
Hacking into our government systems does not appear to be the issue here. Wikileaks is the issue. Wikileaks has not released any e-mails of Hillary while she was Sec of State or any US gov't secured files that I am aware of. Speaking solely of the Wikileaks in question, not leaks prior to the election cycle.

My instinct is that multiple outside sources got into Hillary's private e-mail server while she was at State. My instincts say several outside sources have got into our Government systems for years, unrelated to Hillary. And I believe there were multiple attempts from multiple sources that tried to get into the DNC and Clinton Campaign computers and more than one different outside sources were successful. The various attempts to get into the RNC and Trumps's personal accounts were rebuffed by good security practices and protections. You leave an open door and who knows who can come waltzing on in.

“I was talking to somebody about this earlier: It is almost like the Soviet Union, but worse. At least in the Soviet Union, there was a penalty for not collborating with the state. These guys do it quite voluntarily. They do it because they are on the team. Harwood is far from alone.

“Glenn Thrush of Politico was caught sending emails to the Clinton people for their prior approval. He called himself in his own email a “hack.” he confessed, lamenting perhaps, that he is a hack…

“He was with Politico, and I’ll have you know he’s no longer with Politico. He’s now with the New York Times. The Times saw this and said they liked the cut of his jib. So they hired him away from the Politico… It is considered to be a big promotion…

“The New York Times saw Glenn Thrush collaborating behind the scenes with the Clinton campaign and they hired him away from the Politico.”

Video at the link.

And I won’t ask you to think of Thrush as a Democratic operative with a byline, because that’s simply what he is.

Hey Paul.....was this the kind of "fun" you were thinking of? Trump hasn't even taken office and Chip is on the verge of a meltdown.....

Chip Wilder says:

January 5, 2017 at 6:14 am

And then there is this about our tin pot president elect, cause he’s like “really smart”. . Happy New year-
We will have to have a military coup to take this guy out of office, because he thinks he is a king.

Fish. If it's the same one, he's got a letter to the Editor in today's paper.
It looks like he out to start a bitch on CCW holders in the county.
"Does The Union ever plan a story to see how many concealed weapons permits our sheriff has seen fit to issue in our county? What are the parameters for getting a permit to carry a loaded gun around? Does he do a background check? Is there a records check to see if they have a criminal record? What’s the waiting period?

Trump is about to flip sides on Russian hacking. I'm posting this to get Todd, Gregory Bill, Walt and Fish time to come out with new positions on Russian hacking after stating that they believed Assange rather than US intel. Here's the latest from the Trumpster

"The dishonest media likes saying that I am in Agreement with Julian Assange - wrong. I simply state what he states, it is for the people 7o make up their own minds as to the truth. The media lies to make it look like I am against "Intelligence" when in fact I am a big fan!"

Chuck E. Cheese Schumer is sure talking tough. That just might come back to bite.
Every one who has picked a fight with "The Don" has lost, and in an embarrassing way.
Trump has already given Schumer a new title. "Head Clown". Just as Hillary and Jeb how their "fights" with Trump worked out.

Walt 911am - Our designated reader frequently sends me notice of when the FUE again takes RR/me to task. In reading those screeds I notice that 'Chip Wilder' stands out as a regular echo in the sparse comment streams. I also noticed his letter in today's Union. There he unambiguously reveals himself to be a man possibly concerned but most certainly abysmally ignorant. His histrionic queries for all to see can be answered by a simple phone call to the sheriff's office. Mr fish's 752am question is of interest more in the sense of how many of these "playmates" populate those pages.

"On Wednesday, he used his favorite medium, Twitter, to address his low-wattage docket of performers by pumping up the cred of one singer who is scheduled to sing, former “America’s Got Talent” contestant Jackie Evancho.

Only Trump’s claims that Evancho’s “album sales have skyrocketed after announcing her inauguration performance” are being called into question. Especially in cause and effect.

Vanity Fair noted that the 16-year-old Evancho’s latest offering is a Christmas album, so it stands to reason that sales would increase as the holiday approached.
The Christmas album, released Oct. 28, sold 6,000 copies in the chart week ending Dec. 15. Sales then increased to 11,000 the next charting period ending Dec. 22. Then they dipped to 8,000 the week after"

Poor Paul.. Can't even scroll up the thread to "9:27" from last night. Since you say you don't smoke dope, what's your excuse for not finding it? TROLLING again? Anyhow, just to help the digitally handicapped out, in response to YOUR 9:12...
HEER we go.... It sure doesn't matter now, does it? Just more burdens on society that the taxpayer will be footing the bill for. What's the next drug on the list to legalize?
By your logic, people should be able to snort shoot or pop anything that floats their boat.
And that would be great just how?

Paul, thanks for the heads up about a possible Trump flip on Intel. I doubt he will cry "Uncle" or change his tune.

One man's opinion.
Walt, Paul could be right. Tomorrow Trump gets briefed. I don't know until it happens. I am skeptial of anything that comes out of Obama Administration. Reference Loretta Lynch still looking for the motive of The Pulse massacre and ordering the FBI to withhold the 911 tapes, the WH pressuring the CIA to alter its finding on Benghazi (sins of omission of mentioning Al Queda and Intel warning prior to the attack) Obama saying that there is not one smidgen of corruption in the IRS only to have L. Lerner's first words out of her mouth be "I plead the 5th", Fast and Furious designed to achieve political advantage on gun control and the ensuring cover up), the cover up of the EPA over the Orange Julius and no charges filed or no one fired), etc., etc, etc. Yep, call me skeptical.

I hear the drumbeat already this morning. "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" John McCain said "Every American should be ALARMED!!!!!". Biggest threat to our Democracy. Really? I can think of much bigger threats to our democracy than messing with Podesda's e-mails, lol. Like messing with the Constitution, first and foremost.

Yes, my partisanship tells me (beyond whether if it was Moscow or not, whether one believes it was the "KGB" or not)....tells me this story is being blown way out of proportion by the many powerful Trump haters....the MSM, The Dems, The Globalists, The WH, the Neo-cons, The EU, the RINO's, Paul, ...the predicable ones. That is my bias, based on distrust and dislike for the "other side"...like that guy who went to the White House 300 friggin times and paid homeless folks to start fist fights with Trump supporters in front of cameras...yep, I do not trust the scoundrels and neither did our Founding Fathers. 300 times? That is what I call collusion with Hillary's campaign and the WH. I am very skeptical when politics is put before honesty and principles.

Bottom line: Nobody on the planet including Russia thought Trump would win. Hillary called Putin a Nazi, delegitimized his election, funded and instigated an uprising in Ukraine to overthrow the democratically elected President there and replace him with one of "our own", yeah....Putin had a beef with Hillary. But I figure he was out to mess with her, to embarrass het, to mock her.....but (unless you believe the Russian intelligence was better than our pundits and knew something our election gurus and experts didn't), then Russia involvement was mischievous at best"

Bigger Picture: what exactly should the response to Russia be? What would be the punishment to fit the crime?? After China stole 2.1 million US Government personnel files (including SS numbers, fingerprints, and background checks), what was the response? What is the punishment to fit the crime? Any diplomats expelled? Nope.

Moving forward, Trump is stuck with a cyperwar problem that the Obama Administration kicked down the road. That is a big problem that needs to be addressed with more than lip service. I am more concerned with cyperwarefare on our Gov't and intellectual property than I am about releasing e-mails from laughable barely secured computers showing Clinton insiders mocking Catholics, Jews, Mexicans, Blacks, and people who work with their hands for a living. Cyper War is the the new reality. Trump needs to get it fixed.

Meanwhile, the Russian story will go on and on until every last drop of political smearing can be had. After all, it's all the Losers have to hang on to.

If nothing else, the FBI probably had more effect on the election than any Podesta/CNN/Debbie Whatshetname hanky panky truthful inside looks..

"Liberal pundits Jonathan Alter and E. J. Dionne characterized the Clinton email lawbreaking and lies as "non-scandals." Maybe in Chicago and Massachusetts, where they grew up. Not in the outstate Midwest.

Hints of Clinton's general election weakness came in Democratic primaries, when she lost outstates badly in Wisconsin and Michigan and ran barely even in Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Maybe outstaters were voting not for Bernie Sanders's socialism but against Hillary Clinton's "damn emails.""

"What's the next drug on the list to legalize?
By your logic, people should be able to snort shoot or pop anything that floats their boat."

Let me start out by stating the 'war on drugs" has been an expensive failure. I much prefer the Portugal approach that have decriminalized drug use to great effect. Drug overdose deaths in Portugal are the second-lowest in the European Union. I suggest you read this article for more information.

From the article "it's very clear that decriminalization hasn't had the severe consequences that its opponents predicted. As the Transform Drug Policy Institute says in its analysis of Portugal's drug laws, "The reality is that Portugal’s drug situation has improved significantly in several key areas. Most notably, HIV infections and drug-related deaths have decreased, while the dramatic rise in use feared by some has failed to materialise."

In the article you will see a graphic showing percent of drug deaths in Europe with Portugal, which has the strongest decriminalization policy with the second lowest death rate. George, you might be interested in knowing that Estonia is the second highest.

Trump is about to flip sides on Russian hacking. I'm posting this to get Todd, Gregory Bill, Walt and Fish time to come out with new positions on Russian hacking after stating that they believed Assange rather than US intel. Here's the latest from the Trumpeter

No need to switch positions as I don't believe I've come out definitively either way. I'm perfectly happy offering a mea culpa if after a thorough investigation it's shown that Russians were involved.

No need for me to descend into a spastic episode of spittle flecked Emery like rage before all the facts are in.

The "war" on drugs has worked well. Look at all the drug dealers that killed each other. Keeps those thugs from recidivism. And all those dealwers murdering each other in Mexico is working as well. If only we could get more addicts the dealers would be even more likely to detroy each other.

My radar just went up. Obama gets briefed today, Trump tomorrow. Red Alert! Remember the 13 rewrites the CIA had to do on the Benghazi after the initial White House briefing before they Obama) could release the report to the press and the world??

If I was Trump, my first statement to the briefer would be, "Show me everything you showed Obama before you showed me." The first question would be "Did you or anyone on Earth alter, omit, add, or change anything in this report after briefing Obama yesterday?"

I got a trust issue with the Great Half White Father in Washington. It's that white half part you gotta watch. :)

Paul. Give drugs a try. Every one you would like to see legalized. Test the effects yourself. See if it's a great idea. Then get back to me. I have lost a family member to drugs. It didn't matter if it was legal or not. She liked drugs more than life it seemed.
" I like it! It's MY life. Let me be." She left me with two kids to raise on my own.
Enjoy that little bit of historical fact.

You don't want to hear my ideas Paul.
Now that weed is legal, a whole new generation of mental dumbshits will be on the public dole. Wanna do drugs? can't hold a job? Tough shit. Not one dime of gov. assistance. No housing, no food stamps.

"time to come out with new positions on Russian hacking after stating that they believed Assange rather than US intel" PE 920

As yet, I've not seen US intelligence to believe or disbelieve, just stuff on the order of "an unnamed CIA official..." told to a reporter from a Clinton campaign house organ. Since Clapper is the intelligence official who told Congress under oath that the NSA wasn't keeping records on ordinary American's phone calls, I'm not sure how to "calibrate" what he's been telling us about this matter... especially since he tendered his resignation after the election, effective Obama's last day. This strikes me as the actions of a partisan.

The sad reality is we cannot control the choices one makes. We have seen the best of parents heartbroken over the choices made from the greatest of their well mannered, intelligent, out going adult children....and young mothers. They say they aren't hurting anyone but themselves. Try telling that to the parents of try explaining that to young children after you pull mommy's blue body out of the bathroom.

For some, there is no such thing as moderation. Even Jerry Brown's link I posted last night was about its ok only if people do pot "in moderation"

3 stages: 1)Fun. 2) Fun with problems. 3) Problems. A bummer sticker slogan (Just Say No) or decriminalize the stuff may work for some...who can do moderation....but the rest, well, there is a reason they are called addicts.

Paul 627, that Bush didn't fire Tenet's ass on his immaculation day is not the logical equivalent of "selecting" (your word) Tenet. Just as every time I had a change of boss/boss's boss/boss's boss's boss... in the workplace, they didn't fire everyone in the department only to rehire him.

Bush didn't run a selection process to find Tenet... Tenet just wasn't shown the door. Not selected. Not asked to leave, at least right away. At the time, that was thought to be nicely bipartisan, just what the electorate seemed to be ordering.

Paul, if Reader's Digest still has that vocabulary builder feature, you might buy a subscription, might open a whole new world for you.

I am also reminded of a story by one of my physics' prof when he introduced his PhD professor, Richard Feynman, at a colloquium open only to upper division physics students and physics professors... "Who left a note in a top secret classified safe in Los Alamos saying "Guess who"?"

Feynman had made a study of stupid passwords and combinations, and a not very well hidden secret is that most safes retain the combination they were delivered with, and most safes of the same model (at least at the time) were delivered with the same combo... expecting the customer would change it to something only they knew.

“I emailed her that. I told her in the elevator up from videos. I told her that in the pre-brief. I told her that in the elevator up to 8. I made clear it wasn’t that Jake [Sullivan]’s timeline was ‘inadequate’ – just that the wrong version made its way to her,” Reines wrote. “But [I] think it played into whatever anxiety she has that you’re experiencing about the topic of archiving.”

The dam is beginning to break. Trump will go in full paddle retreat by next week To once again quote Todd "What a hoot"

Never in my lifetime have I seen such a bumbling egomaniac in the White House.

"he report will build on an Oct. 7 joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security, which concluded that the Russian government had directed a widely publicized hack of the Democratic National Committee’s emails.

“We stand more resolutely on the strength of that statement” than ever before, Clapper testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday...........The president-elect, who favors closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has dismissed intelligence assessments on the hack and accused intelligence officials of building a false case against Moscow. Trump is scheduled to receive a classified briefing on Russian hacking efforts on Friday. "

Has anyone considered that possibility that multiple hackers accessed the DNC computers? It was possible using a tool that was available for downloading on the Internet if it was the tool that US intelligence put in the Russian Hacker Report. As Assange said, any computer savvy 14-year-old could have hacked the DNS servers. So, Russia could have hacked the computer, and some other hacker could have supplied the email to Wikileaks. This would make a case where both the Intel community is right that Russia hacked the DNC and some other hacker also hacked the DNC servers and gave the email to Wikileaks, making Assange's statements valid. Just a thought!

"Wanna do drugs? can't hold a job? Tough shit. Not one dime of gov. assistance. No housing, no food stamps. "

How far should we go in criminalizing self destructive behavior, such as drub use. Should we criminalize sugar use for example which if abused can lead to obesity, diabetes and death and massive impacts on public subsidized health care. Would you throw "suger abusers" out in the street with other drug addicts? Same with tobacco and alcohol addicts?

Paul, Paul, Paul.
Huffington Post? Oh yeah. Aren't they the same ones that said Trump had a 3% chance of winning.........opiate of the masses. When are we going to bomb the Ruskies back into the Stone Age? Next week, or you do need another week to fan the flames to reach the boiling point.
Trump ain't backing down, Paul. He may be a unpolished brut like Mike Tyson, but he is my deplorable street fighting man. Better watch out or he will bite your ear off.

Huff-N-Puff Post, lol. You need to get out of the DJ booth more often.

“We don’t need a dictionary to figure out what he’s saying,” Smith insisted. “He’s saying, ‘Putin knew this, Putin directed this. This is all about Putin.'”

“The president-elect is with Julian Assange, who if he walked out the door would be arrested,” Smith said, “over the $62 billion a year American intelligence agencies and all their leaders.”

“And then today, Trump said he’s a big fan of ‘intelligence,'” Smith noted. “Apparently not this intelligence. He’s made that clear. Because this intelligence says that Vladimir Putin and the Russians tried meddling with the U.S. election to help him, Donald Trump, get elected.”

“But why? Does Donald Trump not trust the intelligence agencies? Or is this a thank you to the Russians for all their help? We do not know. But it’s one of those.”

"Drub use"?? Suger?? Good GOD man. show so self respect. I don't see kids snorting rails of Pure cane sugar off the sidewalks of convenience stores. Or breaking into homes for a Mt.Dew fix.
Can you think up a stupider example?

My idea is far from criminalizing "destructive behaviour". They make the choice. Drugs or help. Welcome to responsibility.
Tell ya' what. Add a "druggy" TAX to pot sales. A fund lowlifes can be paid from.
Why should those who bust their ass to make a living, pay the way for those who would rather stay in a stupor?

You are so far out on a limb on this that's there's no going back. Do you think he would make stuff up when he's representing the consensus of 17 intelligence agencies?

Here's the latest from CNN on what's to come.

"US intelligence has identified the go-betweens the Russians used to provide stolen emails to WikiLeaks, according to US officials familiar with the classified intelligence report that was presented to President Barack Obama on Thursday.
In a Fox News interview earlier this week, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denied that Russia was the source of leaked Democratic emails that roiled the 2016 election to the detriment of President-elect Donald Trump's rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile, US intelligence has received new information following the election that gave agencies increased confidence that Russia carried out the hack and did so, in part, to help Trump win.
Included in that new information were intercepted conversations of Russian officials expressing happiness at Trump's win. Another official described some of the messages as congratulatory.
Officials said this was just one of multiple indicators to give them high confidence of both Russian involvement and Russian intentions. Officials reiterated that there is no single intercepted communication that qualifies as a "smoking gun" on Russia's intention to benefit Trump's candidacy or to claim credit for doing so."

Paul, just listen to yourself playing lickspittle to the CIA. We shall see if your unwavering faith in spookdom is misplaced, or not.

Of the two of us, only one actually designed computer systems the NSA used for secure data communications. I'm in no hurry to have a hissyfit and that can wait until Jan 21, when the formerly lying weasel Director Clapper has returned to rank civilian status.

And why should I believe an idiot journalist like him? He's just regurgitating the same dribbles everyone else is getting from "US officials" speaking anonymously. Let's get people speaking on the record from positions of authority, not rats in the night.

George Rebane damns with faint praise once again. So predictable. BTW, I’ve been enjoying Paul Emery’s rope-a-dope on the RR website, let’s hope he has the stamina to keep it up through 2020. I agree 100% with his analysis, the Rumpsters are going to rue the day. So beautiful. Can’t wait.

Michael, if you're there, the essence of the rope a dope is that Ali was able to absorb incredible punishment while his opponents would exhaust themselves because he would would make them so angry. Ali never let anger get to him. I have Trump as the good healthy devil providing me with endless material on a daily basis. IT is sad though that the inevitable populist movement destined to shake up this country picked such a completely flawed champion. My preference would have been an enlightened Libertarian but no one appeared so this is what we get. I'm in this for 15 rounds though.

Oh Paul, before you congrats yourself, you must remember that we on the right now have the Moral Authority now and have remained flexible. You are stuck in rigidity. Flexibility and love is the key. I have had a moment of clarify last night because of you!! For that, I must thank you.

You have taught me a great lesson. That lesson is to embrace the hate. This morning I woke up embracing the hate. Now, I admit embracing stupidity is something I need to work on, but I will no doubt learn to embrace the "enlightened Paul's stupidity" as well as his hate and taunting as well. I embrace the hate! I have been set free! Thankyou Paul, Thankyou, thank you. I feel like reaching over and giving you a big hug and (softly) grabbing your pussy. I have come to the Light.

I know you don't believe half the stuff you write. Nobody does. Nobody could. You had me going, but love conquered all. I was so blind and foolish. ''Twas blind but now I see.
I am just amazed how long it took me realize that even you don't believe your funny posts. They are hilarious! Thankyou. Love has shown me the way. Love trumps hate! I love you Paul. Get your mangina ready!! 'Embrace the hate is the key. Come to Papa.

Note to PE- The Boxing Commission did away with 15 rounds because of the effects on neurological systems. Its 12 rounds for championship fights and 8 or 10 rounds for normal fights. MMA does 3 or 5 5 minute rounds. Sounds like you are going to get a lot of head trauma in the next 8 years on top of the pre-existing conditions. You could also end up with a Reagan style post script with another 4 or more years for VP Pence. ;-)

Can't give Trump credit for this one. It was the elected members of Congress across the fruited plane and amber waves of grain. Good that the People's House came together today. Not 100%, but I take over 340 Yea votes all day long. Senate is expected to pass the condemnation of Obama's voting "Present" at the UN as well.

To put icing on the cake, I hope the "Democrats" make Keith Ellison head of the DNC. That will go over great in the heartland! Oh, one can only hope, but I don't have a say in the matter from the peanut gallery. Never get tired of winning.

"Perhaps the most notable Democrat to oppose the resolution was Minnesota’s Keith Ellison, who is a strong advocate for Palestinian rights. Ellison, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is running to lead the Democratic National Committee, where his vote on the Israel resolution could prove controversial".

8:27 pm. Yep, he is the right skin color and the right religion. Now, about being a former Minister Farrakhan loyal devotee......ah heck, if only he was female he would be a shoe in. Must admit he is better looking than Debbie Whatzername. Bernie, Elizabeth, and Maxine Waters endorse him. First we had liberals, then progressives, and now they are called the Alt-Left. Gotta keep up with their evolution.

Don @ 7:42 pm.
Lest we forget, 2016 took Ali away from us. Boxing will never be quite the same.

2016 claimed a lot of famous people. It was a rough year for many. Janet Reno (one of many) confidently declared that she will never see Trump elected President of the United States. She was right. She died on a Monday, the day before the election. Most merciful timing if you think about it.

Ah - Paul, the libertarian! What a laugh. Other than legalizing dope, what are Paul's libertarian creds?
Well, none, but a yapping poodle dog has to have a mission? Right?
I expect to see a report from Paul pronto every morning on the constant failures of the Trump admin.
The last one he found was Trump's false hyping of a woman's career.
Paul never seemed to mind the left's hyping of Hillary's career.
But I speak of the past and now we have the future to look forward to.
One of the best things about the future is the total comedy we will hear from the left.
Already Nancy Peloci is complaining that the Rs won't tell us every detail about their plan to repeal Obama care.
This, from she who told us we would have to pass Obama care first before we were allowed to know what was in it.

Paul, the bromance between you and Michael P Anderson is beautiful, man. Glad you have each other to fall back on in the coming weeks and months.

We shall see who is playing rope-a-dope; I find it very interesting that Trump's brain, Steve Bannon, has not been seen since the early post-election days. Is it because he's missing in action or very, very busy playing chess while the usual suspects play checkers? I don't know but he seems to be batting 1.000.

Right now, I'm watching a Charlie Rose from a few days ago, interviewing the NY Times' Tom Friedman... who is becoming unhinged. He still has no idea what has hit priveleged left-liberalism in this country.

Regarding the dear departed, I thought PBS' Gwen Ifill was particularly sad. Breast and endometrial cancers, not that unlike the ovarian cancer that took my Teri and a number of entertainment figures, including Gilda Radner and the truly spectacular Madeline Kahn.

A sadness I'd have preferred Ms. Ifill to miss was the election... how much better I expect it would have been for her if she could have passed knowing Hillary would be winning in a few days rather than spending her last couple of days knowing Trump prevailed.

Ifill was biased, but was more classy about it than most. She tried to be fair, which really is all anyone can do.

One of my libertarian credos is a foreign policy influenced by Ron Paul's definitive essay "Why We Fight" Here's the link if anyone cares to read it. I would love to discuss it with anyone on this blog. Here's a teaser

"Unfortunately, we have lost faith and confidence in the system of government with which we have been blessed. Today too many Americans support, at least in the early stages, the use of force to spread our message of hope and freedom. They too often are confused by the rhetoric that our armies are needed to spread American goodness. Using force injudiciously, instead of spreading the worthy message of American freedom through peaceful means, antagonizes our enemies, alienates our allies, and threatens personal liberties here at home while burdening our economy.

If confidence can be restored in our American traditions of peace and trade, our influence throughout the world would be enhanced just as it was once we rejected the military approach in Vietnam."

After reading all the screeds from Paul Emery over the years here and elsewhere, he in my view is a Trumpster. Foreign policy and domestic policy as Trump has laid out are right up PE's alley. But the one thing that cracks me up about PE and other ultra libs is their characterizing Trump as stupid. If one tries to build a skyscraper in Manhattan you are anything but stupid. In fact you are brilliant. Thousands of jealous buracrats get to oversee every little thing you do. If a person can wade through that and he has many times, he is ready to lead the country.